Volume LXXVIII, Number 41
Nassau Inn Inducted Into Historic Hotels of America . . . . . . . . . . . 5 IAS Welcomes New Scholars, Initiatives for 2024-25 . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Grammy-Winning Conductor Returns to Lead Two Westminster Choirs . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 PU Orchestra Opens New Season with Westergaard Tribute Concerts. . . . . 18 Having Emerged as a Force for PU Women’s Volleyball, Chaney Developing into a Leader For Tigers . . . . . . . . . 28 PHS Football Comes Through in Defensive Struggle, Eking Out 3-0 Win Over Holy Cross Prep In Moving to 3-3 . . . . 30
Remembering John Lennon And New York on His Birthday . . . . . . . . .17 Art . . . . . . . . . . . . 23, 24 Books . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Calendar . . . . . . . . . . 25 Classifieds . . . . . . . . . 37 Luxury Living . . . . . . . . 3 Mailbox . . . . . . . . . 14, 15 New To Us . . . . . . . . . 26 Obituaries . . . . . . . 35, 36 Performing Arts . . . 19, 22 Real Estate . . . . . . . . 37 Religion . . . . . . . . . . . 36 Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 Topics of the Town . . . . 5 Town Talk . . . . . . . . . . 6
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Ruha Benjamin Wins “Genius” Award Amidst Gaza War Controversy Princeton University Professor Ruha Benjamin has been awarded a MacArthur Fellowship, widely referred to as the “genius” grant, worth $800,000, and she emphasizes the need to see this honor in the context of her support for the proPalestinian University students “who are calling for the University to divest from organizations supporting Israeli state violence against Palestinians.” Benjamin, the University’s Alexander Stewart 1886 Professor of African American Studies, who describes herself as a transdisciplinary scholar and writer focusing on the relationship between innovation and inequity, was cited by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation for “illuminating how technology reflects and reproduces social inequality and championing the role of imagination in social transformation.” The Foundation’s announcement of the Fellowships went on, “By integrating critical analysis of innovation with attentiveness to the potential for positive change, Benjamin demonstrates the importance of imagination and grassroots activism in shaping social policies and cultural practices.” In a post to the social media platform X on October 1, the day of the MacArthur announcement, Benjamin described how her phone call from the MacArthur Foundation telling her she’d won the award came on the morning after “a tense call with Princeton University officials investigating my support of students protesting the genocide in Gaza.” Benjamin was a faculty observer for the 13 University students who were arrested during a proPalestinian sit-in at Clio Hall on April 29 and are currently preparing to face trial in Princeton Municipal Court. “It was an eventful week,” Benjamin wrote in her X post, describing the Foundation’s phone call. “What would have been a moment of pure joy and excitement was tempered by the sense that the same institutions that are quick to celebrate our accomplishments have been slow to respond to students’ demands to disclose and divest from genocidal violence.” Benjamin’s comments on X were originally intended to serve as responses to the University Office of Communications’ request for information for a press release about her MacArthur Award, Continued on Page 10
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Wednesday, October 9, 2024
PU’s John Hopfield Wins Nobel in Physics John Hopfield, a Princeton University professor emeritus in the life sciences and molecular biology with associated faculty status in physics and neuroscience, has won the 2024 Nobel Prize in Physics “for foundational discoveries and inventions that enable machine learning with artificial neural networks,” according to the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, which announced the award on Tuesday, October 8. Hopfield, 91, who shares the award with Geoffrey E. Hinton of the University of Toronto, has made contributions that “have fundamentally changed the world,” said Princeton University Molecular Biology Department Chair Bonnie Bassler, as quoted in a Princeton University Office of Communications press release. Their discoveries in machine learning paved the way for current rapid advancements in artificial intelligence. The prize amount is 11 million Swedish kroner, about $1 million, which the two prize winners share. “John Hopfield’s brilliant scientific career has transcended ordinary disciplinary boundaries, enabling him to make
lasting contributions to physics, chemistry, neuroscience, and molecular biology,” said Princeton University President Christopher L. Eisgruber. “His pathbreaking research on neural networks, for which he is honored today, exemplifies beautifully the power of curiosity-driven research to advance the frontiers of knowledge and create new tools for addressing some of the world’s most profound challenges.” The Swedish Academy noted that Hopfield “created an associative memory that
can store and reconstruct images and other types of patterns in data.” Praising Hopfield’s “groundbreaking” work, Bassler noted, “John’s discoveries show how research at the interface of disciplinary boundaries can transform our understanding of nature and deliver practical applications that benefit society.” She continued, “John combined physics, biology, and neuroscience approaches to probe the brain, developing neural networks to explain how the brain recalls Continued on Page 7
Supreme Court Ethics Reform Rally Will Urge Attendees to Take Action
Speakers at the “Supreme Injustice” rally set for Sunday, October 20 on Hinds Plaza plan to encourage those in attendance to actively oppose recent decisions issued by the U.S. Supreme Court in the areas of health care, environmental protections, and gun safety laws. New Jersey State Sen. Andrew Zwicker, the Rev. Robert Moore of the Coalition for Peace Action and Ceasefire New Jersey, and representatives of Empower NJ,
Planned Parenthood Action Fund of New Jersey, and the Bayard Rustin Center for Social Justice are among those who will speak at the 2 p.m. gathering “to oppose far right extremist and corrupt decisions issued by the U.S. Supreme Court,” reads a release about the event. The rally will urge attendees and observers to take action to demand Supreme Court justices “are not bought and Continued on Page 8
FIREHOUSE FUN: The annual Princeton Fire Department Open House on Sunday afternoon featured demonstrations, fire truck tours, tips about fire safety, a bounce house, snacks, and more. Attendees share what they liked best about the event in this week’s Town Talk on page 6. (Photo by Steven Wojtowicz)
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